Course/Module description:
We will study the Jewish Law sources dealing with the issue of conversion. Our initial focus will be a comparison between the Babylon sources and the Eretz Yizrael sources. This focus will serve as the background for a historical survey and analysis of the halakhic decisions given during the medieval and the modern period. The historical survey will be followed by consideration of the influence of the Enlightenment and secularist trends on the Halachic decisions, and subsequently, how the Zionist movement and the establishment of the State of Israel influenced Halakhic decisions on conversion. Another focus will be the institutional aspect of the conversion issue in the state of Israel and the tension between the rabbinical courts and the special courts for conversion now operating in the wake of the recommendations of Neeman Committee. This examination leads to a consideration of the Supreme Court verdict concerning the rabbinical court’s competence to cancel a conversion performed by a special court for conversion. We will also address the status of conversions performed by Reform and the Conservative rabbis. In this context we will examine Gavizon-Medan covenant.

Course/Module aims:
1. To expose the students to critical analysis of the Jewish Law sources.
2. To clarifying the Halachic development of the conversion issue.
3. To demonstrate the influence of historical circumstances and events on the development and crystallization of the Halacha.
4. To present the connection between the ideological worldview of the rabbinical authority and halakhic decisions.
5. To present the dispute in the Supreme Court over the conversion issue, focusing the approach of the Chief Justice Barak and his methodology.

Learning outcomes - On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:
1. Compare between different sources of Jewish Law.
2. Be aware of the role of policy considerations in decisions in Jewish Law.
3. Identify the process of development of Jewish Law and offer an explanation of this process.
4. Establish the connection between Jewish Law decision and the ideological perspective of the rabbinical authority who gave the decision, and to place it within the context of his time.
5. Distinguish between the different approaches to the research of the Jewish Law sources.
6. Understand the roots of the dispute among the religious authorities about the conversion issue.
7. Recognize the different considerations operating in the Jewish Law decisions and to contrast them with the considerations of the Supreme Court in the conversion issue.
8. Analyze the judge’s goal when ruling on a case and identifying the methodology used in reaching a decision.

Attendance requirements(%):

Teaching arrangement and method of instruction:
Teaching method in course: Frontal teaching with emphasis of joint study of the sources. In this context there is an expectation of active participation on the students’ part.

Course/Module Content:
List of subjects/ program of the course:
1. The motivation of the converts in Talmudic and post-Talmudic sources.
2. Practical requirements: circumcision and immersion – Israel versus Babylon.
3. The mental and cognitive transformation of the converts.
4. The Maimonidean conception of conversion.
5. The positions of Rabbi Yaacov (Baal-HaTurim) the son of the Rosh and Rabbi Yosef Karo (Shulchan Aruch) about the requirement of accepting the Mizvot.
6. The position of the rabbinical authorities in modern times regarding the requirement of accepting the Mizvot.
7. The special courts versus the rabbinical courts.
8. Canceling conversion – the rabbinical courts and the Supreme Courts.
9. The status of the Reform and Conservative movements' conversion – the verdicts of the Supreme Court and Gavizon's and Medan's covenant